alternatehistory.com
13 April 1945 - British manpower woes
13 April 1945, London
Field Marshal Alan Brooke was apprehensive, as there was no question that the war in it's current format could not be prosecuted beyond this current campaigning season without some severe compromises being made in the makeup of British Forces, particularly in Europe. The simple fact of the matter was that the British Army was at it's wits end in regards manpower and had, in fact, been making compromises in regards that very lack of manpower ever since the first list of casualties came back from Normandy in June 1944.
A number of Royal Artillery Infantry units had been created in the winter of 1944/45 from surplus AA units with no German air threat present. Most were used as line of
communications troops, but some had been formed into combatant brigades. Three battalions of Royal Marines from surplus landing craft crews were organized into a brigade.
He had broken up the 59th and then the 50th Divisions for replacements and transferred the 5th Division from Italy, where the Germans were on their last legs.
The Army's manpower was 2.9 million, the RAF 0.9 million and Navy 0.78 million. The merchant marine also had it's needs. 25,000 personal had been transferred from the Air Force to the Army in the last 12 months and perhaps he needed to ask for more given the paucity of the Luftwaffe. There were plans afoot to reduce the Army's logistical "tail", however, this was hard to do whilst great and substantial offensive operations were in place, which created an environment where logistical supports were sorely needed. 31st Indian Armoured was the only Division size unit ready for combat that was not allocated in the European Theatre of war. For that matter, even the United States Army only had 16th Armoured and 17th Airborne, the former to move to Germany within days. Of course, the French had four Divisions that had just formed in the last two months not allocated to combat as yet, but that was all.
Brooke scanned the communication authorising operations beyond the Elbe. One could only hope that operations against Nazi Germany would wrap up quickly and that when a link up with Soviet forces was to happen, that no untoward incidents occurred.
Field Marshal Alan Brooke was apprehensive, as there was no question that the war in it's current format could not be prosecuted beyond this current campaigning season without some severe compromises being made in the makeup of British Forces, particularly in Europe. The simple fact of the matter was that the British Army was at it's wits end in regards manpower and had, in fact, been making compromises in regards that very lack of manpower ever since the first list of casualties came back from Normandy in June 1944.
A number of Royal Artillery Infantry units had been created in the winter of 1944/45 from surplus AA units with no German air threat present. Most were used as line of
communications troops, but some had been formed into combatant brigades. Three battalions of Royal Marines from surplus landing craft crews were organized into a brigade.
He had broken up the 59th and then the 50th Divisions for replacements and transferred the 5th Division from Italy, where the Germans were on their last legs.
The Army's manpower was 2.9 million, the RAF 0.9 million and Navy 0.78 million. The merchant marine also had it's needs. 25,000 personal had been transferred from the Air Force to the Army in the last 12 months and perhaps he needed to ask for more given the paucity of the Luftwaffe. There were plans afoot to reduce the Army's logistical "tail", however, this was hard to do whilst great and substantial offensive operations were in place, which created an environment where logistical supports were sorely needed. 31st Indian Armoured was the only Division size unit ready for combat that was not allocated in the European Theatre of war. For that matter, even the United States Army only had 16th Armoured and 17th Airborne, the former to move to Germany within days. Of course, the French had four Divisions that had just formed in the last two months not allocated to combat as yet, but that was all.
Brooke scanned the communication authorising operations beyond the Elbe. One could only hope that operations against Nazi Germany would wrap up quickly and that when a link up with Soviet forces was to happen, that no untoward incidents occurred.
- johnboy
- Word Count: 380